A pre-partum lift in ewe nutrition from a high-energy lick or maize or by grazing Lotus uliginosus pasture, increases colostrum production and lamb survival

Abstract

This experiment tested the hypothesis that a lift in the nutrition of ewes, before lambing, to increase colostrum production would enhance lamb survival. In all, 261 mature Corriedale ewes, each with a single fetus from a synchronised mating, grazed native pasture to day 130 after mating; at which point they were weighed, condition scored and allocated to graze either native pasture or a pasture dominant with Lotus uliginosus. Five days later (14 days before the expected start of lambing) the ewes were allocated to one of four treatments and fed: (i) native pasture alone, (ii) native pasture plus a commercial high-energy lick, (iii) L. uliginosus pasture alone or (iv) L. uliginosus pasture plus whole maize. The weight, viscosity and concentration of components and immunoglobulin G in the colostrum that had accumulated at parturition, were measured for 10 ewes in each treatment. The lambs that survived to 20 days of age from the 221 ewes that were not milked, were recorded. The ewes supplemented with the lick or maize grain and those that grazed the L. uliginosus pasture alone accumulated two to three times more colostrum at birth than the ewes that grazed native pasture alone (396, 635 and 662 g v. 206 g; P , 0.01). The colostrum from the ewes that grazed only native pasture was more viscous (lower score) than that from the ewes supplemented with the lick or maize grain or the ewes that grazed the L. uliginosus pasture alone (scores of 4.1 v. 6.2, 6.5 and 6.4, P , 0.001) and, not surprisingly, the concentration of lactose in the colostrum of the ewes fed only native pasture was also much lower (1.1% v. 3.0%, 2.8% and 2.6%; P , 0.001). The survival of lambs from the ewes fed only native pasture was less than that of the lambs from ewes fed native pasture plus the commercial lick (81.8% v. 95.5%; P , 0.05) or the L. uliginosus pasture alone (92.4%, P , 0.05), and also tended to be lower than that for lambs born to ewes fed L. uliginosus pasture plus maize (91.8%, P 5 0.08). The concentration of glucose in the blood of the lambs from the ewes that grazed only native pasture was lower than that of the other lambs (42.1 v. 60.2 ng/ml, P 5 0.012). We conclude that the marked increase in colostrum production associated with the lift in ewe nutrition, just prior to lambing, enhanced lamb survival.

Colostrum production in ewes: a review of regulation mechanisms and of energy supply

“…These ewes were grazing native pastures with 159 g CP and 9.5 MJ ME/kg DM. In other experiments, supplementation of single-or twin-bearing Corriedale ewes with a lick comprising mainly cracked maize grain (~1.38-fold the ME required; MAFF, 1975) increased colostrum production by 92% (Banchero et al, 2009) or 89% (Fierro et al, 2012) in single-bearing ewes and by 134% in the twinbearers (Fierro et al, 2012) compared with unsupplemented control ewes. The ewes were grazing native pastures with an average of 70 g CP and 7 MJ ME/kg DM.…”

“…Moreover, although ewes may be able to consume enough DM at the end of pregnancy, it would not be enough to meet their requirements for lactogenesis (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), 1975) if this DM was obtained from native pastures. Normally, these pastures have a heterogeneous distribution of species and quality varied during and between years (low protein: <100 g/kg of DM and low ME: <8.5 MJ/kg of DM of forage; Bermúdez and Ayala, 2005) For these reasons, researchers investigated the value of short-term supplementation of the ewe under grazing conditions at the end of pregnancy (Hall et al, 1992a and1992b;Murphy et al, 1996;Roeder et al, 2000;Banchero et al, 2004aBanchero et al, and 2004bBanchero et al, , 2007Banchero et al, , 2009Holst et al, 2005;Fierro et al, 2012;Hawken et al, 2012). Supplements like cereal grains or concentrates would provide high energy/protein in a small volume of feed.…”

The importance of the gestation period for welfare of lambs: maternal stressors and lamb vigour and wellbeing

“…: different responses between 1 and 2 year old ewes Rooke et al 20101-90 0•75 O O O: different responses between ewe breeds Ferguson et al (2011) 0-100 (0•7) O O O different responses between sites; no effect on LWG Kenyon et al (2011) 30-50 (0•6) O O Khalaf et al (1979) 100-147 0•65 No effect on lamb plasma IgG Holst et al (1986) 105-147 (0•85) Bloomfield et al (2003) 105-125 0•02/0•04 Dwyer et al (2003) 28-147 0•65 Everett-Hincks et al (2005) 64-147 (?) O Husted et al (2007) 100-147 0•5 Decreased LWG to weaning Corner et al (2008) 107-147 (0•6-0•8) Swanson et al (2008) 50-147 0•6 O Increased lamb plasma IgG in UN treatment Tygesen et al (2008) 0-147 0•50 Decreased weaning weight; interaction with sire genotype Banchero et al (2009) 130-147 (? low birth-weight not surviving.…”

“…In situations where gestational UN reduces birthweight, then associated increases in mortality are likely given the well-established link between birthweight and mortality (Wu et al 2006). Indeed lamb mortality was increased in most studies (Khalaf et al 1979;Vincent et al 1985;Banchero et al 2009;Munoz et al 2009) where birth-weight was reduced. However, there are contradictory reports (Holst et al 1986;Munoz et al 2008b).…”

Survival of twin lambs is increased with shrub belts

“…Feeding lupins appears to increase colostrum production even when ewes are grazing 'lush' pasture and are 585 well-fed throughout pregnancy (Murphy et al 1996), and increased colostrum is associated with an increase in 586 lamb survival (Banchero et al 2009). However, ewes in low body condition can produce similar levels of 587 colostrum as ewes in high body condition (Banchero 2003), and lupin grain has not consistently increased 588 colostrum production (Banchero et al 2004).…”